Aaron Montgomery Ward
Aaron Montgomery Ward
Born	February 17, 1844 Chatham, New Jersey
Died	December 7, 1913 Chicago, Illinois

Aaron Montgomery Ward (February 17, 1844 - December 7, 1913) was an American businessman notable for the invention of mail order. Image File history File links Amward. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Jan. ... Chatham, New Jersey may refer to two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey — Chatham Borough and Chatham Township, whose boundaries and forms of government were last defined in 1897— or to both of them together as the Chathams. The two are actually separate municipalities, but do share a library... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ... December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Nickname: The Windy City, The Second City, Chi Town, City of the Big Shoulders, The 312, The City that Works Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in Chicagoland and Illinois Coordinates: Country United States State Illinois County Cook & DuPage Incorporated March 4, 1837  - Mayor... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Jan. ... December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... A businessman (sometimes businesswoman, female; or businessperson, gender neutral) is a generic term for a wide range of people engaged in profit-oriented enterprises, generally the management of a company. ... Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. ...

The mail-order industry was started by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872 in Chicago. Ward, a young traveling salesman of dry goods, was concerned over the plight of many rural Midwest Americans who he thought were being overcharged and under-served by many of the small town retailers on whom they had to rely for their general merchandise. Midwest as shown by U.S. Census Bureau official map from [3] Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... In commerce, a retailer buys goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers or importers, either directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells individual items or small quantities to the general public or end user customers, usually in a shop, also called store. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Early Years

Aaron Montgomery Ward was born on February 17, 1844 in Chatham, New Jersey. When he was about nine years old, his father, Sylvester Ward, moved the family to Niles, Michigan, where Aaron attended public schools. He was one of a large family, which at that time was far from wealthy. When he was fourteen, he was apprenticed to a trade to help support the family. According to his brief memoirs, he first earned 25 cents per day at a cutting machine in a barrel stave factory, and then stacking brick in a kiln at 30 cents a day. February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Jan. ... Chatham, New Jersey may refer to two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey — Chatham Borough and Chatham Township, whose boundaries and forms of government were last defined in 1897— or to both of them together as the Chathams. The two are actually separate municipalities, but do share a library... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ... Niles is a city located in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. ...

Energy and ambition drove him to seek employment in the town of St. Joseph, a market for outlying fruit orchards, where he went to work in a shoe store. This was the initial step toward the project that later sent his name across the United States. Being a fair salesman, within nine months he was engaged as a salesman in a general country store at six dollars per month plus board, a considerable salary at the time. He rose to become head clerk and general manager and remained at this store for three years. By the end of those three years, his salary was one hundred dollars a month plus his board. He left for a better job in a competing store, where he worked another two years. In this period, Ward learned retailing.

Field Palmer & Leiter Years

In 1865, Ward located in Chicago, and worked for Case and Sobin, a lamp house. He traveled for them, and sold goods on commission for a short time. Chicago was the center of the wholesale dry-goods trade, and in the 1860s Ward joined the leading dry-goods house, Field Palmer & Leiter, forerunner of Marshall Field & Co. He worked for Field for two years and then joined the wholesale dry-goods business of Wills, Greg & Co. In tedious rounds of train trips to southern communities, hiring rigs at the local stables, driving out to the crossroads stores and listening to the complaints of the back-country proprietors and their rural customers, he conceived a new merchandising technique: direct mail sales to country people. It was a time when rural consumers longed for the comforts of the city, yet all too often were victimized by monopolists and overcharged by the costs of many middlemen required to bring manufactured products to the countryside. The quality of merchandise also was suspect and the hapless farmer had no recourse in a caveat emptor economy. Ward shaped a plan to buy goods at low cost for cash. By eliminating intermediaries, with their markups and commissions, and drastically cutting selling costs, he could sell goods to people, however remote, at appealing prices. He then invited them to send their orders by mail and delivered the purchases to their nearest railroad station. The only thing he lacked was capital. 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... // The First Transcontinental Railroad in the USA is built in the six year period between 1863 and 1869. ... Marshall Field (1834 -1906) was founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago based chain of department stores. ...

Montgomery Ward & Company Years

None of Ward's friends or business acquaintances joined in his enthusiasm for his revolutionary idea. Although his idea was generally considered to border on lunacy and his first inventory was destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire, Ward persevered. In August of 1872, with two fellow employees and a total capital of $1,600, he formed Montgomery Ward & Company. He rented a small shipping room on North Clark Street and published the world's first general merchandise mail-order catalog with 163 products listed. It is said that in 1880, Aaron Montgomery Ward himself initially wrote all catalog copy. When the business grew and department heads wrote merchandise descriptions, he still went over every line of copy to be certain that it was accurate. Artists rendering of the fire, by John R Chapin, originally printed in Harpers Weekly The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday October 8 to early Tuesday October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about four square miles in Chicago, Illinois. ... 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Montgomery Ward (later known as Wards) was an American department store chain, founded as the worlds first mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward. ... Year 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ...

The following year, both of Ward's partners left him, but he hung on. Later, Thorne, his future brother-in-law, joined him in his business. This was the turning point for the young company, which grew and prospered. Soon the catalog, frequently reviled and even burned publicly by rural retailers who had been cheating the farmers for so many years, became known fondly as the "Wish Book" and was a favorite in households all across America.

Ward's catalog soon was copied by other enterprising merchants, most notably Richard W. Sears, who mailed his first general catalog in 1896. Others entered the field, and by 1971 catalog sales of major U.S. firms exceeded more than $250 million in postal revenue. Although today the Sears Tower in Chicago is the United States's tallest building, there was a time when Montgomery Ward's headquarters was similarly distinguished. The Montgomery Ward Tower, on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Madison Street in Chicago, reigned as a major tourist attraction in the early-1900s. Richard Warren Sears Richard Warren Sears (born December 7, 1863 in Stewartville, Minnesota - 1913) was a manager and businessman. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... // First flight by the Wright brothers, December 17, 1903. ...

Public Life: The Fight for Grant Park

Ward fought for the poor people's access to Chicago's lakefront. In 1906 he campaigned to preserve Grant Park as a public park. Daniel Burnham's famous 1909 Burnham Plan eventually preserved Grant Park and the entire Chicago lakefront. The Taste of Chicago is held in Grant Park annually around Independence Day. ... Daniel H. Burnham. ... Proposed development in the center of the city The Burnham Plan is an essay, principally authored by Daniel Burnham in 1909, entitled The Plan of Chicago. ...

Legacy

Montgomery Ward died in 1913, at the age of 69. His wife bequeathed a large portion of the estate to Northwestern University and other educational institutions. Despite the collapse of its catalog and department stores in 2001, Montgomery Ward & Co. still adheres to the once unheard philosophy of "satisfaction guaranteed" as an online retailer. Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Montgomery Ward (later known as Wards) was an American department store chain, founded as the worlds first mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward. ... Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the internet. ...

The Montgomery Ward catalog's place in history was assured when the Grolier Club, a society of bibliophiles in New York, exhibited it in 1946 alongside Webster's dictionary as one of the hundred books with the most influence on life and culture of the American people. The Grolier Club is a society of bibliophiles, founded in New York City in January, 1884. ... NY redirects here. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...